Mob Rule
On a recent visit to France we experienced, in the course of two weeks, three general strikes and one slow-down, …
Category Archives: Opera
Vanity Fair and Foul
On a recent visit to the Metropolitan Opera, I saw the magnificent Nina Stemme sing the title role in Strauss’ …
What does Golde think?
In the newest revival of the beloved musical “Fiddler on the Roof”, currently running on Broadway, Tevye is played with …
Mr. McNally Goes to the Opera
Fans of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts on Saturday afternoons, and especially the opera quiz, will remember the playwright Terrence …
Looking to the Linen
In his 1693 treatise A Short View of Tragedy, the English critic Thomas Rymer famously distilled a lesson from Shakespeare’s …
And When It Is Bad…..
What is it about opera in performance that, when it succeeds, scales the heights of human emotion, art and possibility; …
The Paradoxical Don
Is he a rapist or a seducer? A great lover of women or a sex addict? These questions hover around …
Genius in the Rests
On the “technology” campus of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, there is a sculpture of Albert Einstein playing Frisbee. By …
Soul Whisperers
Abstract. Decorative. Illustrative. Evocative. Narrative. Story. Full-length. 19th Century. 20th Century. Modern. Traditional. There are a number of words that …
Masters and Servants
The verb “To lord” is defined by the OED as “to play the lord, behave in a lordly manner, assume …
Poets' Sinews 